“Penalty hero“ Marc-André ter Stegen and FC Barcelona are comfortably through tot he quarterfinals after knocking out the last English club in the competition. After the 2-1 first leg win, the Catalan club won the second leg 1-0 in the Camp Nou.
The matchwinner was German keeper ter Stegen after saving Sergio Agüero’s penalty on the 78th minute and ex-Schalke star Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal of the game. It’s only the second time in 19 years that an English side hasn't made it to the quarterfinals.
City walk into Barca’s trap
Whilst the Catalan club, watched by Pep Guardiola, are top of the league, into the cup final and through to the last eight for the eighth successive year, and can know start dreaming of another treble, the English champions once again failed to make it past the round of 16 at their fourth attempt in the Champions League.
The oldest City side to play in the competition (average age of 30 years), were on the attack from the whistle, and fell straight into Barca’s trap. In the sixth minute, Neymar had a chance to make it 1-0, but hit the postand saw the ball trickle along the goal line. Barca continued to marvel, just like the good old days, and scored the games only goal after Messi crossed the ball to Rakitic, who chested the ball down and flicked it over Joe Hart with his toes.
Piqué concedes penalty, ter Stegen saves
City, who lost twice to Barca in the round of 16, last season, could only resort to aggression in their attempts to stay in the tie. After 35 minutes, four City players had already been booked. Samir Nasri was lucky not to have seen red for a brutal foul on Neymar.
The English side struggled to keep it at 1-0 before half time. Luis Suárez, who scored twice in the first leg, hit the post on 44 minutes. Ter Stegen, who plays in cup matches ahead of league goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, had little to do until Sergio Agüero caught him dribbling the ball outside the box, by the touchline, though the Argentinian was unable to pounce on the German’s mistake. 20 minutes later, Gerard Piqué fouled Agüero in the penalty area, but ter Stegen saved the shot brilliantly.